In component mounters, generally carrier tape wound around a reel is fed by a feeder and components stored in the carrier tape are mounted on a board. In a component mounter, when the trailing end of the carrier tape is approaching and components are about to run out, as disclosed in PTL 1 for example, a host computer that manages the mounting line sends a component replenishment notice to a portable terminal being carried by an operator of the mounting line. Then, the operator, upon receiving the component replenishment notice, stops operation of the mounting line, goes to the relevant component mounter, and performs reel exchange at the feeder for which components are going to run out. However, the operator must stop operation of the mounting line whenever performing reel exchange, which lowers production efficiency.
For this, for example, a component mounter disclosed in PTL 2 is provided with a feeder and a gantry robot connected to an interface, such that operation of a feeder about to run out of components is stopped, and the feeder is supplied with a new reel by the gantry robot. With this component mounter, only the feeder about to run out of components needs to be stopped, it is not necessary to stop operation of the mounting, thus lowering of production efficiency is curtailed. However, recently, further improvements to production efficiency are desired.
Thus, an automatic splicing device that does not require operation of a mounting line or operation of a feeder to be stopped has been proposed. For example, an automatic splicing device disclosed in PTL 3 is placed near a component mounter, and an operator inserts a leading end of carrier tape of the same type as a carrier tape at the component mounter about to run out of components into one side of the device and inserts the trailing end of the carrier tape at the component mounter about to run out of components into another side of the device. Then, the automatic splicing device cuts between an empty cavity and a cavity storing a component of both carrier tapes, and automatically connects the tapes at the cut locations using splicing tape.